Typically when people think of Military Sealift Command, they think “gas, guns, and groceries to Navy ships at sea,” said MSC’s Deputy Chief Information Officer/N-6, Mr. David Olszowy.
Olszowy, who is responsible for the development, deployment, employment, and maintenance of Command, Control, Communications, Computer Systems (C4S), business systems, and cybersecurity systems to support MSC's global operations, said that Military Sealift Command is much more than that, to an audience at a March AFCEA event in Norfolk, Virginia.
MSC is the leading provider of ocean transportation for the Navy and the rest of the Department of Defense — operating approximately 110 ships daily around the globe, according to their website. The command is perhaps best known for its Combat Logistics Force ships, which keep the fleet on station and combat ready, and provide fuel, ordnance and dry cargo.
Ship Classes
Olszowy referred to the fleet of 30 Combat Logistics Force ships as MSC’s “bread and butter,” but pointed out that these ships make up only about a quarter of Military Sealift Command’s total force. “The other three-quarters are contributing to Special Mission Support, Prepositioning, Sealift, and Service and Command Support. Our force is laying the foundation for creating mobile bases at sea and we’re doing all of this great work while freeing up other naval combatants so they can focus on their primary mission: fighting and winning our nation’s wars,” Olszowy explained.
The Special Mission Program is composed of approximately 23 ships that provide operating platforms and services for a wide variety of U.S. military and other U.S. government missions. “These ships work in the classified realm doing cool stuff for the nation,” Olszowy said.
Cool stuff, indeed. The special missions include oceanographic and hydrographic surveys, underwater surveillance, missile tracking, acoustic surveys, along with submarine and special warfare support which is provided to U.S. Fleet Forces Command, the Oceanographer of the Navy, the U.S. Air Force, and Naval Sea Systems Command, among others.
The Service and Command Support Program ships provide towing, rescue and salvage, submarine support, and cable laying and repair services, as well as a command and control platform and floating medical facilities that includes the Navy’s first designated interim afloat forward staging base, USS Ponce (AFSB(I) 15). Olszowy said that Ponce allows U.S. Navy ships to go where there are no ports — or where the United States isn’t allowed to port. “There is a discourse about the number of these ships,” Olszowy said. “We have two, but people want more.”
The Prepositioning Program supports all branches of U.S. Armed Forces and the Defense Logistics Agency. The program strategically places military equipment and supplies aboard MSC’s 27 ships located in key ocean areas to ensure rapid availability during a major theater war, a humanitarian operation or other contingency, thus eliminating the need to rely on other nations’ transportation networks, according to their website.
Whether it’s construction equipment, petroleum, or much needed supplies, the Sealift Program has the right vessel for transportation. According to MSC, more than 90 percent of U.S. warfighters’ equipment and supplies travel by sea. A mix of government-owned and long-term-chartered dry cargo ships and tankers, as well as additional short-term or voyage-chartered ships — and the newest ship class, Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF), formerly known as Joint High Speed Vessel (JSHV).
“It was originally designed as a personnel and equipment hauler,” Olszowy said. “It’s changed now.” Designed to operate in austere ports and waterways, EPFs have a “reconfigurable” 20,000-square-foot mission bay area that can quickly adapt to support a number of different missions — anything from carrying containerized portable hospitals to support disaster relief to transporting tanks and troops, according to MSC’s website.
EPF ships, which also boast unmanned capabilities, are capable of transporting approximately 600 tons of military troops, vehicles, supplies and equipment 1,200 nautical miles at an average speed of 35 knots. “The ships are fast and versatile,” Olszowy said. According to Olszowy, EPF ships have the potential for use in many areas, including Counter Illicit Trafficking (CIT), Direct Action (Special Operations support), Underwater Marine Countermeasures, and Humanitarian/Disaster Relief.
There are currently 12 in the fleet, and possibly more on the horizon, Olszowy said.
Other new platforms include the Expeditionary Transfer Dock, a converted oil tanker that can do skin-to-skin cargo transfers and the USNS Lewis B. Puller (T-ESB-3) — an Expeditionary Mobile Base — which will take the place of Ponce in the Middle East next year.
Workforce
MSC’s workforce is 95 percent civilian — 79 percent are civil service mariners, 16 percent are civil service mariners working ashore. The remaining five percent are active duty military working afloat and ashore. “We have a fairly seasoned workforce, mostly middle-aged. Many are former military,” Olszowy said. Indeed, veterans make up 42 percent of MSC’s population of civil service mariners, and more than half of those are retired veterans. “We also have a good mix of civilian mariners from maritime academies,” Olszowy said.
The command partners with contractors, which adds another 1,400 to the command’s total workforce.
MSC History
Military Sealift Command has an illustrious history dating to nearly 70 years ago, when then-named Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) became the single managing agency for the DoD's ocean transportation needs. In 1949, the newly formed MSTS assumed responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all military services as well as for other government agencies, according to MSC’s website.
During the Vietnam War, MSTS was rebranded as Military Sealift Command. Between 1965 and 1969, MSC played a crucial role in the war, transporting troops along with nearly 54 million tons of combat equipment and supplies, and nearly eight million tons of fuel to Vietnam.
Over the past four decades, MSC has continued to play a vital role in support of the warfighter. “Military Sealift Command conducts worldwide operations and provides support 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Olszowy said.
At the start of fiscal year 2015, MSC began moving from the Washington Navy Yard to Naval Station Norfolk to consolidate two headquarters into one. “This move has already helped MSC streamline processes, maximize customer service, and cut costs associated with maintaining two geographically separate headquarters locations,” Olszowy said. “We’ll also be filling jobs in the next one-and-a half years, and contracts are being re-competed over the next four to six months.”
All MSC vessels are assigned to one of the two program offices, performing a type-commander function, reporting through three distinct and separate chains of command: U.S. Transportation Command for defense appropriation matters; U.S. Fleet Forces Command for Navy-unique matters; and Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition for procurement policy and oversight matters. According to MSC’s website, personnel in Norfolk are responsible for crewing, training, equipping and maintaining government-owned, government-operated ships, as well as providing afloat IT support.
Strategic placement of area commands in five positions around the globe allows Military Sealift Command to provide this comprehensive coverage. The area commands are “operationally focused and aligned with the numbered fleet logistics staffs in their respective theaters,” Olszowy explained. With locations in the Atlantic (Norfolk); Pacific (San Diego, California); Europe and Africa (Naples, Italy); Central (Manama, Bahrain); and Far East (Singapore), these area commands provide expertise and operational perspective to Navy fleet commanders worldwide, Olszowy said.
Area commands also have offices and representatives in several other locations such as Diego Garcia, Japan, Spain, Hawaii, Washington State, North Carolina, Texas, and Florida.
Cybersecurity Challenges
Cybersecurity is an area that Military Sealift Command doesn’t take lightly. The command has entered into partnerships with the National Defense Transportation Association (NDTA), the Transportation Command (TRANSCOM), and the Department of the Navy, including the Navy Warfare Development Center (NWDC), and Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command (NCDOC), and Fleet Cyber Command (USFCC).
“We’re developing a new relationship with NCDOC to get training not only for our cybersecurity workforce but for our mariners. They are going to be working on making sure we are providing the best protection to our networks as well,” Olszowy said.
“We are participating in the CICSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) 2.0 working groups with Fleet Cyber Command as we work to stand up our own CSI program that involves training and assist visits and stage I reviews,” Olszowy said.
Olszowy explained that maritime industries are targeted just like every other industry, and experts are seeing an increase in hacker activity.
In the case of World Fuel Services, Olszowy said, hackers were able to intercept email communication and take over conversations relating to accounts, while pretending to be the legitimate, trusted business, ultimately costing the company $18 million. In another example, hackers were able to penetrate the cargo systems of Australian Customs and Border Protection to check whether or not their containers were regarded as suspicious, allowing them to abandon contraband and avoid being caught. This infiltration also allowed hackers access to any cargo tracking systems that accessed this system, Olszowy said.
It’s no secret that easy access to wireless devices, such as mobile phones and tablets, has created difficulties in safeguarding networks. According to a recent Cisco whitepaper, global mobile data traffic grew 74 percent in 2015, while mobile data traffic has grown 4,000-fold over the past 10 years and almost 400-million-fold over the past 15 years, a staggering amount by any measure.
Complicating matters are wearable devices. In 2015 alone, there were 97 million of these devices in use, including smart watches and smart glasses. Wearable devices have the capability to connect and communicate to the network either directly through embedded cellular connectivity or through another device (primarily a smartphone) using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or another technology, according to Cisco.
“These types of devices constitute an increasing security risk to the Navy that must be addressed,” Olszowy said.
MSC is meeting its C4S (command, control, communications, and computer systems) challenges head-on, including two-factor authentication for PKI/CLO — user IDs and passwords are no longer authorized, Olszowy said. MSC is eradicating Windows XP and subsequently upgrading to Windows 10, modernizing systems in afloat vessels, and operating successfully in contested environments, just to name a few ongoing efforts.
Despite these challenges, Military Sealift Command continues to evolve by staying focused on its four key priorities: providing ships ready for tasking, workforce development, customer reengagement and managing organizational change.